Little Engineers at Work

During this AMSTI science lesson, students were asked to create structures using solid objects.  To begin the lesson, we discussed what an engineer does.  I told the students that they were going to use what they had learned about the properties of solids to build a bridge and then a tower.  Students worked independently and with a partner.  These students are very creative and put a lot of thought into this process.  Students were then able to tell me which solid objects were better for the base of the structure, which objects were better for holding it together, and which objects were better used at the top.